LOOKING BACK: Tulane Football Posts an Exciting 1987 Season
Jun 12, 2020 | Football
NEW ORLEANSÂ - As the Tulane University football team prepares for the upcoming 2020 season, TulaneGreenWave.com takes a look back at some of the best seasons in Green Wave history.
In this week's edition of Looking Back, TulaneGreenWave.com examines the 1987 Tulane football team which returned the Green Wave to a bowl game for the first time since the 1980 campaign.Â
RECAPPING THE 1987 GREEN WAVE
Coach Mack Brown's last Tulane team was an exciting one, scoring and giving up more points than any other squad in the first 100 years of Green Wave football. It was a competitive club that finished the regular season with a 6-5 record, with three of the losses by seven points or less. After the regular season, Tulane played in its eighth bowl game, facing Washington in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport.
Tulane's Marc Zeno set the NCAA career receiving yardage record as he ended his college career with 3,725 yards. Zeno's 77 receptions and 1,206 yards surpassed his own school marks and he earned All-America honors.
Junior quarterback Terrence Jones was on the throwing end of nearly all of Zeno's receptions that fall as he set new Green Wave records for passing yards and total offense. With a full season left, Jones was already Tulane's career total offense leader. Tailback Marvin Allen scored 11 TDs, including four against Virginia Tech on three short runs and a 76-yard bomb from Jones. Tulane triumphed 57-38 to record the most points by the Green Wave since 1950. On the season, Tulane amassed a school-record 370 points.
In this week's edition of Looking Back, TulaneGreenWave.com examines the 1987 Tulane football team which returned the Green Wave to a bowl game for the first time since the 1980 campaign.Â
RECAPPING THE 1987 GREEN WAVE
Coach Mack Brown's last Tulane team was an exciting one, scoring and giving up more points than any other squad in the first 100 years of Green Wave football. It was a competitive club that finished the regular season with a 6-5 record, with three of the losses by seven points or less. After the regular season, Tulane played in its eighth bowl game, facing Washington in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport.
Tulane's Marc Zeno set the NCAA career receiving yardage record as he ended his college career with 3,725 yards. Zeno's 77 receptions and 1,206 yards surpassed his own school marks and he earned All-America honors.
Junior quarterback Terrence Jones was on the throwing end of nearly all of Zeno's receptions that fall as he set new Green Wave records for passing yards and total offense. With a full season left, Jones was already Tulane's career total offense leader. Tailback Marvin Allen scored 11 TDs, including four against Virginia Tech on three short runs and a 76-yard bomb from Jones. Tulane triumphed 57-38 to record the most points by the Green Wave since 1950. On the season, Tulane amassed a school-record 370 points.
The Green Wave and LSU played one of the great games in the series in 1987, as the Tigers scored in the final minute to win 41-36. Just prior to the Independence Bowl, Brown announced he was leaving to become head coach at North Carolina. He coached the bowl game, which the Green Wave lost, 24-12, to Washington.
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